The Portland daily press., 1887-11-19

promptly assess and add up those disjoInted
values so as to keep pace with the mechan-
ical action Of the handsP And all the time
an outlook is kept for base coin, OF which
such an expert will sometimes throw out
fully half n dozen In counting a hundred
pounds. The annual loss from wear and
tear Of gold coin in England by reason Of the
absence Of small notes Is almost incredible.
In Scotland the issue Of 81 notes displaces
gold to a great extent, and IL Is almost as
rare there as here. The Scotch teller excels
in counting paper money. In handling gold
and silver he Is altogether behind the age.
keeping those metals before him Ia old
maidsh piles. which would make London
teller shrek with derisiOn. But In lingering
a bundle of notes he Is king OF men.
Placing the pickets upright against his left
palm and SEEING the Top corner between Ins
turn over the notes so quickly that an ordi-
nary observer will be as entirely deceived as
by the three-eard trick, and will probably
only count sixteen OF seventeen to the tel
ler's twenty. Then, to check his count, he
will either alternate the hands, or, placing
the notes horizontally on the counter, he will
count them toward himself with the same
paralyZing speed.
The Scotch counter Is twice as wide as the
London one; it is elevated In the centre and
is minus the rim which facilitates the Eng
lish teler'S dexterity with the coin. Inc
Scotch teller in Edinburgh Is rallied in. His
domain Is little island by itself, he is lat,
and comfortable and old, and he takes no
sort Of responsibility except as to the weather,
he carries no balance in his head, and VIII
not look at eheque until the ledger-cierk.
far off in the corner, has countersigned II:
When YOU cross the broad stately plaza OF
the inner hall and finally accost him In due
form he will hardly let you away he Is so
impressed with you and has 80 many things
10 say, or rather so many public inquiries 10
make. The correct conclusion at which you
orriuQ ~ hon kunNV ledge IL complete Is
that there is as great disparity between
the principles of English and Scottish bank
ing as there is between the mechanical
methods in which they carry ON their busi-
ness.
The American teller Is self-contained,
gentlemanly and very much to the point, but
he handles his notes as haberdasher hand
les ribbon, conveying the impression that ne
Is testing or Illustrating the value OF the ma
terial Of which they are made as he doles
them out He looks, too, as II he were
afraid Of giving you too much, an undesir-
able impression.
One great advantage the English teller
possesses over both the American and Scotch
teller lies in the fact that he issues clean
notes only. The Bank Of England has the
exclusive privilege Of note issue In London
and within a radius Of sixty miles, right
conferred for a certain daluable considera-
gone by. All the notes received BY the Lon
don teller are sent into the Bank OF Eng
land and they are not reissued The aver
age life Of a f5 bank note is two or three
weeks, that Of R100 bank note three days
that is, the interval between its issue and
return to the bank and final death. 'The
Bank" be it noted always refers In London
to one institution, 'sthe Bank OF England.
The advantage in Issuing clean notes Is this;
They are all numbered consecutlvely, there
fore all that the teller has to do In recording
the numbers is to enter the first and the last
thus, $3.50 to 1854 1867 R10, would re-
present ESQ in ten pound notes. The small
er numbers represent the date, June rs, 1881.
The London teller has the trouble OF enter
ing the numbers Of his notes which neither
the Scotch nor the American banks have,
but II he gives away too much either by
wrong count or through mistake In the de-
nomination he can usually locate ms error az
the close of the day and generally recover
the money.
1t must not be inferred from this reference
to errors that they are frequent. On the
contrary. Nor are they always paid Tor by
the teller when they do occur. A teller who
made "short and paid 1t out of his own
pocket without reporting 1t, would be IN
fringing the rules. He may inadvertently be
cloaking an Office thief by doing so. But al
though he does not always pay LOT MS own own
losses they appear regularly in the weekly
returns to the directors with his name
against them until they become a very
WEAKNESS to the flesh. They are written on
against the profit and loss account on quar-
before the directors know all about Mr.
Jones' mishap. A succession Of losses OF ten
pounds each for three consecutive Saturdays
has driven teller into lunatic asylum and
caused his death. But the mere question and
mechanical correctness In his cash would not
lin the absence Of other qualifcations-lead
to the promotion of a teller. He must be
possessed Of a suaye yet dignihed manner,
temper not readily ruffied and be an accur-
ate judge Of the human cOuntenance. lie
must he infallihIa in the matter If signatures.
A teller has been known 70 detect forgery
when the man whose name was forged could
not tell whether the signature was his own
or not. He must also have an excellent
memory for customers balances and he must
be fully alive to what is going on around him
all the day long And in London, at least.
he must be conservant with all public, and
especially financial matters and with the
value of stocks. While thus engaged In 'front.'
there is force alongside OF him which never
permits itself to be forgotten, and that Is
the potency Of the managerial eye, There Is
nothing harassing in the treatment of good
bank manager, who is on the contrary
great support to his staff, but the air Of eter-
nal vigilance is never lost
''Mr. Jones, I'll take up your TILL" Is a
quiet remark which the teller usually hears
once week in a well regulated office, but
for which he must always be prepared, for 1t
Is Just as possible as not that it may occur
two days in succession. Mr.. Jones takes no
umbrage at the manager counting his cash at
all sorts of odd times il Is customary, and
the one fact potent to his mind Is that where
ever else he can get money from In the hour
of necessity, he must never borrow from his
till. for the shortage there OF even half a
sovereign would cause his suspension. IL Is
military discipline and it Is best; there Is no
sort OF foolishness in London banking. Lon
don bankers gained their experience in
rough school, but they learned well the les
sons Of adversely.